The Venue – Banderas Bay and Vallarta Yacht Club
Banderas Bay
The Championship will take place on the Pacific Coast of Mexico on the waters of Banderas Bay, the second largest bay on the North American coast. The Bay is open to the northwest and is approximately 15 miles wide and 30 miles deep. It is home to one of the west coast’s most popular tourist destinations, Riviera Nayarit. Banderas Bay has a very mild climate with extremely reliable wind and sea conditions. Winds are such that sailing is possible every day. Thanks to a regular daily thermal, wind directions and speeds are consistent and very predictable.
Sailing will be less than one kilometre off the beach, in full sight of the resort hotels of Riviera Nayarit. The base for the event will be the Vallarta Yacht Club. The VYC is located only 12 kilometres north of the Puerto Vallarta International airport, a 20 minute ride away.
Vallarta Yacht Club
Founded in 2002, Vallarta Yacht Club is a private independent yacht club which first focused on cruising and youth sailing. The VYC’s signature event, the WesMex International Small Boat Regatta, focuses on small boats such as Optimists and Lasers. Events like WesMex and others have brought attention to Banderas Bay as a superb sailing venue. Some of the events that VYC have hosted are:
- 2007 J24 World Championship
- 2007 Optimist North American Championship
- 2011 Pan American Games
- 2014 Optimist North American Championship
- 2016 Laser Worlds Championships, including Laser Masters, Radial Masters, Men’s Standard and Women’s Radial. This event was held over a two-month period
- 2018 Optimist North American Championship
- 2021 Optimist North American Championship
Currently VYC has about 180 families as members and boasts a well-developed junior sailing program. Several of our youths actively compete in national, continental and world championships.
The Vallarta Yacht Club is ideally suited for hosting this event for several reasons:
- Large, paved boat park areas
- Convenient launch ramps into the marina docks and adjacent to the clubhouse.
- The sailing area is a short sail from the Club’s launch area.
- Our sponsor, Paradise Village Resort Hotel and Marina, provides onsite lodging and other resort amenities, two well equipped fitness centers, and many other family attractions.
- The Club itself, offers a full bar and dining facilities as well as a hot tub, bathrooms, shower with locker rooms, and a private swimming pool.
- The Paradise Village Resorts, Spa and Marina is adjacent to the club making it convenient for all the participants. There is also a shopping mall with six more restaurants, a night club and numerous stores. In the immediate area are a church, two banks and the full-service Joya Hospital.